


Adopting a Montague

by velourianspirit



Category: & Juliet - Martin/West Read
Genre: & juliet - Freeform, Adopted Children, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Angst, Anne is a protective mother, Anxiety Attacks, F/M, Hamnet Shakespeare is briefly mentioned, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, I’m sorry in advance, Judith & Susanna causing chaos, Kissing, Other, Romeo Montague can cook, Romeo is tired and depressed, Sadness, Sleepy Kisses, Will is a protective father, emancipation, he can really cook well actually, his death is mentioned, like wow you can cook?, lord and lady capulet are assholes, maybe i cried writing this, romeo doesn’t deserve to be brokenhearted, romeo is suffering, sleepless Romeo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:28:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23250211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velourianspirit/pseuds/velourianspirit
Summary: After moving into the Shakespeare residence, Romeo starts to realise just how badly his parents treated him throughout his life. Anne and William receive two letters that change the course of the household.
Relationships: Angelique/Lance Dubois, Anne Hathaway Shakespeare/William Shakespeare, Francois Dubois/May, Romeo Montague/Juliet Capulet
Kudos: 7





	Adopting a Montague

Will was always awake well before Anne. Whenever she would wake, stretching softly wrapped in Will’s arms, a natural smile would stretch across his lips. His wife was so beautiful in all of her glory. Even when she insisted otherwise, Will was certain she had a wonderful glow about her. 

“Good morning, my love,” said Will, a slight croak to his voice. He played with Anne’s soft hair as she stretched in his hold, loving the sight of his wife. “Did you sleep well?”

“Mmmhmm,” mumbled Anne. “I will say, our new bed is incredibly comfortable, especially when I’m wrapped up in your arms.”

“What can I say? A good bed is vital.” A small smile on her face, Anne turned to face Will. Her tired complexion was adorable. Instinctively, Will planted a kiss onto Anne’s lips, to which she responded excellently to. Since the unprecedented big move, they hadn’t had much time to themselves. Will raked his hands through his wife’s hair as they kissed, enjoying every second he had with his wife before the madness of the household resumed.

Hearing the creak of hinges, they broke the kiss. Small footsteps suggested that it was one of the girls walking to the bathroom. 

“William,” whispered Anne in a soft tone, “have you noticed how late Romeo’s awake every night? His bedroom light’s always on at ridiculous times.”

“I’ve noticed,” replied Will in an equally soft voice, a slightly troubled look written across his face. “I know he’s not our son, but we’re obliged to make sure he’s alright now he’s living in our property.”

“It just worries me, William. He doesn’t talk about his parents, but Juliet’s implied enough to tell me that they weren’t exactly the best parents for a young man like him.” 

Anne had noticed how lively Romeo had become since moving into their new residence, but she still had an established cause for concen. Having raised Judith, Susanna and Hamnet almost single-handedly, she was an expert on debunking people’s emotions and coping mechanisms. Anne knew that humour was a very normal coping mechanism, especially self-deprecating humour, but Romeo’s behaviour didn’t always sit right with Anne. He’d wake up last and would apologise profusely like waking up past a certain time was a criminal offence. He’d nap through the afternoons and would have fun with Judith, Susanna, Juliet, May & François in the evenings. 

Some would call Romeo “mad”, but Anne knew that Romeo was struggling and recognised it. She felt a motherly need to have a sit-down talk with Romeo, but she’d only do it if he was comfortable. Chances are, he wasn’t.

Anne and Will headed downstairs together to see two letters poking through the letterbox, both written by the same person but addressed to two different people. One of the letters was addressed to Mr & Mrs Shakespeare, while another was addressed to Romeo. Anne’s heart sank as soon as she connected the dots, realising the letters were almost certainly from Lord & Lady Montague. She tucked the letter addressed to Romeo under the bread bin, took a deep breath, and sat down with Will to read the letter from Lord & Lady Montague.

The letter was vague but threatening enough. Romeo’s parents were insistent upon their son’s immediate return, otherwise they’d contact the authorities for “abducting” their son. As Anne read each word, she felt a motherly rage possess her. Anne knew exactly what would happen if Romeo went back to live with his parents, and it filled her with an unprecedented amount of rage. She didn’t even want to think about whatever was awaiting Romeo inside of the envelope addressed to him.

“I’m sick of this,” said Anne, angry tears stinging at the corners of her eyes. “I can’t even think how they must’ve treated him if they’re threatening to call the authorities because we’ve apparently abducted him.”

“They can’t do anything about it. They’re empty threats. Nothing more.” Will took a deep, exhausted breath as he furrowed his eyebrows. “Even so, I can’t think about how that letter addressed to him could complicate things even more. All we can do is find a place to stash that letter and wait for things to wash over.”

“Nothing about this feels right.”

Standing at the top of the stairs, Romeo listened intently to Will & Anne’s conversation. They were talking about him — he felt it in his gut. Something about a letter, empty threats, the authorities... it had to be his parents. 

Romeo was so grateful to have found solace with the Shakespeares. He loved it so much more at their brand-new countryside residence, more than he’d ever loved Verona. Almost all of his memories from Verona were plagued with the memories of his wickedly controlling parents. Benvolio, Juliet, Angelique and May were the few people from Verona he could tolerate. If he had his own way, Romeo would break away from his family in a heartbreak and swear allegiance to the Shakespeares for the rest of his life.

Taking a deep breath, Romeo headed downstairs. He was tired, of course — he’d scarcely slept recently with thoughts of his parents plaguing even his dreams, too, but he had to face the day nonetheless and find that stupid letter that Will & Anne were talking about.

“Bloody hell, you’re up early,” said Will, looking at Romeo with a slight amount of surprise written across his face. “Sleep well, Romeo?”

“Couldn’t have slept better,” said Romeo, lying without any remorse. He just needed to find that letter they were talking about. “I don’t mind sorting breakfast if you guys have only just woken up. I don’t want to make it seem like I’m just mooching off you.”

Romeo could see the heartbreak in Anne’s eyes. He felt so, so bad about lying to the people who’d taken him in, but he already felt like too much of a burden to begin with. He didn’t need to burden Will & Anne with his problems — it was a stretch to even call them problems to begin with. He was already living in their lavish new house free of charge, so it only seemed reasonable for him to keep his problems to himself.

“I’m never one to resist a helping hand in the kitchen, Romeo,” said Anne, smiling softly. “Before we get started on breakfast, though, do you mind if we have a little chat? Just you, myself and William?”

Shit. If Will & Anne’s “little chats” were anything like Romeo’s parents’ chats, he wasn’t going to enjoy this. His parents would scream at him for hours and hours when he was younger until he cried and locked himself in his room for the rest of the day. Romeo felt extremely dizzy, his heart pounding rapidly in his chest. He couldn’t do this, but he couldn’t fathom an excuse to lie again to the people who had been so incredibly kind to him when he came to their doorstep in floods of tears.

Romeo compromised, nodded and headed to the dinner table where Will and Anne were sat, hovering over cups of warm coffee.

“I’m going to be blunt about this, Romeo,” started Will, an eerily stern quality to his voice. “We received a letter from your parents this morning regarding your living arrangements. There was one addressed to you as well, but we don’t think it’d be within your best interests to read it. Anne and I just want to know how we can support you.”

“We care very much about you, Romeo. I’ve noticed you’ve not been sleeping all too well recently. Is there anything you’d like to talk about?” continued Anne, squeezing Romeo’s hand, a particularly motherly gesture, something that Lady Montague had never, ever done. Anne was more like a mother to Romeo than Lady Montague had ever been. Judith, Susanna and Hamnet were so incredibly lucky. 

“My parents weren’t, uh, the best parents, to say the least,” started Romeo. Usually, he was a confident man — at least, he’d execute a facade that would make anyone believe it was the real thing. In reality, he was frightened and jittery whenever anyone would raise their voice indoors. If people knew what he was really like, he’d be deemed as mad. “Whatever I did as a child was met with a negative response without fail. My parents don’t care about me — they want someone who will be a good representation of the family image by the time they’re gone. Considering how they used to treat me, they can’t expect me to do such a thing.”

“They didn’t physically strike you at all, did they?” asked William, skepticism riddled in his voice. Romeo felt tears stinging at the corners of his eyes, thoughts of his childhood resurfacing, bringing back years of terrible memories. 

“They did,” he continued. Romeo heard Anne inhale sharply, presumably shocked to have heard such a thing. “If they insisted I was defiant, or if I didn’t wake up by a certain time, or if I interacted with the wrong people, my father would hit me.”

Romeo hadn’t even noticed that he’d started to cry.

“I’m so sorry,” whispered Anne. “You didn’t deserve any of that then and you certianly don’t deserve any of that now. I can’t even begin to imagine how much torment they must’ve put you through.”

Anne couldn’t bear the thought of a young Romeo being abused by his parents. There was a dark cloud cast over Romeo’s head that explained everything about Romeo’s inconsistent sleep schedule and the happy-go-lucky thinly-veiled disguise. 

“I found ways to cope with it when I was younger. Most of those methods weren’t exactly ideal, either.” Will & Anne looked at each other with a devastated look. They both knew exactly what that meant. “I still do it sometimes, but most of the time I like to distract myself by spending my days in the kitchen cooking.”

Anne didn’t know how to feel. She was sad, but absolutely livid. Granted, Romeo did things that made you go “ugh”, but nothing he did could ever warrant physical abuse. She could tell that him living in their household was the best thing for him by far. It seemed like he didn’t ever have a family network of his own, while Will & Anne had gone above and beyond for their children. Perhaps it was a societal shift, but Anne knew not even Lord & Lady Capulet were as vile in manner as Romeo’s parents were. 

“Have you considered emancipation, Romeo?” enquired Will, having acknowledged the state of his wife. Romeo shook his head, clearly not understanding what emancipation was. “Emancipation is legally disowning your own family. It’s not the most common thing in the world, but it happens more than you’d think. There are so many reasons why someone might want to go down the road of emancipation, and I think yours would be extremely valid reasons to legally take that up.”

“What if they came looking for me?” asked Romeo, a waivering sadness in his voice. He felt like a young, intimidated child yet again. He remembered all of the times he sat in the corner of his bedroom, crying and curled up into a ball — suddenly, he felt as if he were that small again.

“If you take the route of emancipation, they’re no longer your legally guardians, Romeo. They can come look for you all they wish, but it’s not as if they can expect you to stay under their roof once they’re no longer your legal guardians.”

“Okay,” said Romeo. “I’m sorry for dumping all of this on you two... it’s already a lot on your plate to have so many people in the house. I don’t want to become a burden.”

“Romeo, look at me,” spoke Anne, intense passion in her voice as she grabbed Romeo’s cold hand. “You are never, ever a burden to us, okay? Ever. You’re a part of our family now. You don’t have to bottle up your feelings anymore.”

Anne, Will and Romeo shared a tight group hug, tears rolling down Romeo’s face. Anne hadn’t felt so fiercely about something like this, only because she’d never had to deal with such a scenario. Romeo was a true part of the household, no matter what, and she knew she’d protect her new extended family for the rest of her life.

In the weeks that followed, Romeo and Will sat down and applied for the emancipation process, citing “underlying prior years of grief and trauma by the applicant’s parents”. It was a stressful process, but Will & Anne were there for Romeo through every step of the application.

“We’ll be there for you in court when the time comes to it,” explained Will, smiling down at Romeo. “They need to know who you’ll be living with once you’re legally emancipated. Obviously, that’ll be us. Considering we’ll be your legal guardians from then on, I figure we have to be there.”

“I’d think so,” replied Romeo. “Thank you so much for helping with all of this, Dad. I don’t know what I’d do without your support.”

Dad. Romeo had just called Will his dad without even thinking about it. He was so astonished by how nonchalantly Romeo had called him his dad. Will’s heart had melted within seconds of him fully processing that. Ever since they’d lost Hamnet, there was a hole in the family, and perhaps Romeo was the one who was going to fill that hole that was left.

Without saying anything else, Will pulled Romeo into a tight embrace, practically on the edge of tears. He really didn’t know how he’d missed this development — it was obvious that Romeo was longing for a true family, and he’d finally found it.

“Romeo, do you want myself and Anne to adopt you once this whole emancipation process has happened?” asked Will, holding Romeo’s arms. 

“I’d love that.”

Will couldn’t do anything but smile.


End file.
